Tags: Beverages, Healthy Food and Drinks
By Anna Valmero
PANGIL, LAGUNA— Her love of healthy food inspired Violeta Saligumba to sell organic fruit and vegetable drinks.
“More and more, Filipinos especially those in busy urban areas are more prone to unhealthy diet and consume more carbonated soft drinks, which are bad for the health when consumed daily,” said Violeta.
“I noticed this first with my children who are not fond of eating vegetables at home. That was when I introduced them to fruit-veggie drinks some four years ago,” she added.
Violeta is the general manager of Sustalicious, a company that sells processed fruit beverages, purees and concentrates as well as dried fruits, jams, preserves and jellies.
She previously worked as a reseller of kitchen appliances, including a fruit juice extractor that she personally used to make fruit juices at home. After years of perfecting the combination of fruits and vegetables into a drink for her and her friends, Violeta set out to become an entrepreneur.
“I attended a local seminar called ‘Nego-Eskwela’ that complemented my degree in office management and business education. With 50,000 pesos, I acquired a fruit juicer machine and utensils and we rented a small space for processing the drinks,” said Violeta.
She shares that what sets apart the Sustalicious products from other fruit-based beverages sold in the market today is the processing of and combination of the tropical fruits into a single drink.
Dubbed the Pinoy healthy drink, Violeta said the Sustalicious fruit-veggie drink is made up of pineapple, cucumber, calamansi, tomato and carrots that result in “a zesty drink with a sweet and tangy taste.” A 32mL bottle costs 20 pesos from the factory and could be sold for 23 pesos per bottle in retail stores.
“We only use 100 percent organically grown fruits planted by farmers in Pangil (in Laguna). By using all-natural ingredients, we no longer need to add chemical food color and flavors so our fruit-veggie drink is healthier than commercially-available beverages,” said the Laguna native.
“Unlike other brands, I can proudly say that our drinks are made up of 40 percent juice concentrate and 60 percent water,” she added. They only add “very little” sodium benzoate to prolong the shelf life of the drink for up to six months, when chilled under five degrees Celsius.
According to Violeta, the health drink is rich in Vitamin C antioxidants and beta carotene that promotes good eyesight, easy bowel movement and helps fight cancer.
At present, Violeta said the product is open for distribution in Metro Manila, because there are very limited customers in Laguna where people have easy access to fruits from their backyard.
Aside from the Pinoy fruit-veggie drink, Sustalicious also manufactures flavored soy sauce, Brovan mineral water from natural springs, and “frava: or fruit and herb fusion drink.
“With the Sustalicious line of products, I am hoping to promote my advocacy to give busy Filipinos in Metro Manila a healthier option when it comes to beverages. I hope that it will gain support because this helps not only our company but the local farmers who plant and harvest the fruits,” said Violeta.
Get more information about Sustalicious
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